an aging population and ongoing tensions with north korea a right wing billionaire businessman who's been compared to donald trump looks set to become the czech republic's new prime minister. skeptic and no party won about thirty percent of votes in saturday's parliamentary election he's been critical of the hospital now says it's taken after having. been in talks to form a coalition government. the taliban says is behind a suicide bombing that killed fifteen soldiers in afghanistan's capital it's been a deadly week for the country at least eighty nine people died in two separate mosque attacks on friday your sect your state rex tillerson is in saudi arabia as part of a new push to end the gulf crisis but he says he doesn't expect a breakthrough it's now four months in saudi arabia the united arab emirates egypt and bahrain all suspended ties with qatar and five former u.s. presidents are joining forces for a charity concert to support hurricane relief the one american appeal concert is

texas will raise money for by hurricane harvey. tens of thousands of people were displaced and billions of dollars worth of property destroyed after the storms hit the u.s. and the caribbean. president donald trump has sent a video recording to consequence well those were the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after counting the things of watching. documentaries. on al-jazeera. hello and hasn't taken this is counting the cost on engineer your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week china two point zero why president xi

jinping wants a future based on things like artificial intelligence. also this week hydro economics why it's pitting egypt against ethiopia and stirring up tension along the knowledge base plus confusion over what the u.k. wants from its e.u. divorce is braggs it failing. china's president xi jinping is looking to the future and it is one built on things like electric cars an artificial intelligence of the next five years he wants to create what he calls a country of innovators the latest call to action was laid out of the communist party conference china is home to the world's largest online population but beijing maintains a tight grip on the internet through new technology and is still closing off markets to foreign competitors adrian brown has more from beijing.

this is the party congress where president xi jinping is stamping his authority by mapping out his vision for china for the next thirty years. shining the banner of socialism with chinese characteristics is now flying high for the world to see it will be an era that is china moving closer to the center stage close to the great hall of the people where the party congress is taking place is an exhibition tailing china's technological achievements jury in the president's first five years in office the showcase offers clues to his ultimate quest to bring about what he calls the rejuvenation of the great chinese nation at the heart of that strategy is the creation of an economy built on homemade innovation with a particular emphasis on robotics and electric cars tracing these efforts with her wired power for support for booting china's strength in science and

technology product quality aerospace cyber space and transportation. and for building the digital and the small society president xi jinping zanti corruption campaign has purged the party of many of his real or perceived enemies and rivals but one enemy remains the internet something the president recently described as a dangerous double edged sword and ultimately a threat to china's national security china has more than seven hundred and fifty million internet users and she is keen the china should become a cyber superpower when it comes to innovation and commerce but not at the expense of party discipline as a result censorship is being tightened twitter google and facebook are already blocked by the so-called great wall of china now the messaging service whatsapp appears to have gone the same way surveillance is growing here with the government

making a huge investment in technologies such as facial recognition the use of which is growing china's vast security network is also harnessing artificial intelligence it's another symbol of what president xi truly stands for control we're joining us now from hong kong is reuben mann the jargon is an associate professor at the city university of hong kong thanks very much for being with us so china very much shifting its focus to technology to boost its economy. what do you make of that strategy is that going to help it become the world's technology powerhouse . you know the china is shifting from a manufacturing exporting economy and they want to make their growth dependent or more ally allied with consumption and digital technology is one of the

ways and it's doing actually wonders for example the way that i live. and all of this other online shopping are delivering goods to the peoples of the consumption is really increasing through this digital economy that the chinese do and it. is not if this is just the beginning and i think everything will really go towards that and also because it makes consumption easier prices are lower middle middle man costs are eliminated accessibility is is faster so then that's that's really good for what china is aiming at and i think the there's however there's a flipside to that this digital economy also means that everybody is inside the net the information out of china and the online and he

has to leave open the possibility for the government to look into what what is happening so in short everyone who uses the digital technology in the economy means their names addresses phone numbers bank account all of those are are within the control system of china so but you know people are happy with it so it's not it's not a problem for the public well it's a little they prefer that they prefer cheaper prices accept accessibility rather than less control let's talk a little bit more about that flipside the tight control. over the internet and what people can access and so on because china has made it very clear that it wants to do this on its own terms but if if you want to become a technology powerhouse when when when innovation thrives on the free exchange of

ideas is that sort of policy helpful well it is this is like. a story that is in process because as you know when you go to the digital digital technology this is both ways is in and out so you have to allow information to come in and also for your own people to communicate outside so this is a tug of war that is still happening because in the middle is as i said the security interests that china thinks it is it has to take control of so it's going to be that story is going to be like that still for the years to come. digital technology is part of the globalization that china is is doing but globalization in measured terms in china's terms and as it continues to grow do you think china will eventually overtake the u.s. as the world's biggest economy and if so when. oh that's right i think it's quite

soon i would say well the estimate is by two thousand and twenty well the problem we have in the world now is that you have europe that is due in delaying in terms of economic growth you have an uncertain economic growth taking place in the u.s. you have japan that is just you know kind of modeling through so then that gives all benefit to china so this is this is like well if europe was if we are talking of fifteen years ago twenty years ago then china would would not be in the same position at the door but because we see that how what is the situation in the in the u.s. in south america in europe and then that this makes china take up fill in the blanks as people say good to speak with you ruben monday july in hong kong thank you now imagine

a machine that's broken through the barriers of human knowledge well it's here this week an artificial neural network designed by google's deep mind mastered the ancient chinese board game of go but this is cheeseman is not about the board games previous ai's were able to win by training on thousands of games played by humans the latest version was able to teach itself google says the ai which is known as alpha go zero could have a number of uses and why fight technology has been around since the turn of the century but could it be in need of some fine tuning this week researchers discovered a network floor that allows hackers to spy on uses effects mobiles laptops and other connected devices and tech companies have yet to release patches to fix the problem. all right still to come on counting the cost why some people in the zambian town of cab way feel like they're being slowly poisoned.

or first there was plenty of speculation over saudi aramco this week the kingdom of saudi arabia says its plan for what might be the world's biggest stock market listing is still on track for twenty eighteen and this comes on reports the giant state owned oil producer might swamp the initial public offering in favor of private share place in saudi arabian oil company as it's also known has also allegedly received an offer from china to directly buy up to five percent saudi arabia wants to use the money from the sale to diversify its economy away from oil aerospace giant air bus has snapped up a majority stake in canada's bomb body a c. series jets the rescue deal will be great news for one body a staff in northern ireland where at least a thousand people work on these planes and budget overruns for the c. series almost pushed one body into bankruptcy two years ago and it's been the

subject of a trade route with the u.s. something it now hopes to avoid the organization for economic co-operation and development has painted a very gloomy picture if the u.k. crashes out of the e.u. without a deal on brakes in paris based think tanks as a disorderly brags it could bring credit ratings downgrades and new lows for sterling but it says reversing brags it would significantly boost britain's economy . well that warning from the o.e.c.d. comes as many businesses across the u.k. and europe are struggling to prepare for brakes it that's because they simply don't know what it's going to look like huge uncertainties remain how will it impact the border between northern ireland which is part of the u.k. and republic of ireland which is in the e.u. for example and the clock is ticking the worry is that the u.k. will crash out of the european union without a deal and even summit in brussels was held this week to review the progress so far

german chancellor angela merkel tried to send a positive signal about the future of a possible agreement. but it wasn't that but it was a. view both sides must work hard we must be transparent over our conclusions especially over the partnerships a person might want but not yet fully clear on that but it will happen it will happen within the required time frame and we all know when that will end i want an agreement and not some unpredictable solution we're working very intensively on that let's speak now to simon french in london he is a chief economist with london based primer gordon and co thanks very much for being with us now i want to ask you first of all how likely we've heard a lot of talk this week about the possibility of a no deal. yet how likely is that and what impact would that have on the u.k. economy and europe's economy i think it's a likelihood that is growing all the time it's very difficult to put an exact. percentage on it but i think two things are very clear at the moment first of all

that the government is struggling to get enough votes here in the u.k. to pass any deal sonority eventually brokers and even before it gets that stage conversations with their twenty seven partners aren't going particularly well and therefore we expect the decision on which to go to the next phase to be deferred from this october's meeting to december's meeting terms of what a no deal scenario would do i think we've been quite clear for more than a year now alberta the impact will be significant in terms of u.k. g.d.p. estimates of about four to six percent of g.d.p. over a fifteen year period and the o.e.c.d. has been giving some some dire warnings about the economic impact of bragg's it and that's fueling the other side. in their quest to stop break zero or at least reverse it how how likely is that at this point i think it is unwind clear that the warnings of the o.e.c.d.

will be who do it i think what is more likely is that as we head towards the cliff edge unmarked. two nineteen of the point of which the u.k. leaves the european union that the government looks to really test whether the general public one to go through with this and i think the odds are now increasing that it may test public opinion through a second referendum so i think it is more likely these warnings will be used to justify that test of public opinion rather than deliver a u. turn at this stage in the political cycle and there are of course the ongoing talks over what will become of the u.k. border with ireland and by extension northern ireland's. border with that and how that is going to be negotiated they seem to be. on different wavelengths on on this the u.k. and say saying that the priorities are all out of sequence the e.u. and ireland

a say no that's not the case what do you think going to happen there yes so just for some of your viewers i'm on a bristling with a process the us led set out three parameters the u.k. and the must agree on before they can move to the future trade relationship one of those is northern ireland on the island border and thus far the u.k. government has said look we do not want to wish to return to a hard border between those two parts of the island of ireland and but they are saying that without a conversation on what the new customs and trading arrangement looks like after twenty nineteen and not sufficient progress could be made it's a it's a chicken and egg scenario if you like and i think they will be looking to the european union to open up a little bit of a discussion around what the future state looks like. three in order for the discussions on the irish border to be progressed because those have been one of the most difficult along with the money part of the negotiations and when you look as

well what is happening in spain right now and the showdown there of catalonia is demand for independence and what could happen there. the talks of a break zip the don't seem to be going anywhere at this point it's like it's a very turbulent time in europe right now what impact is all of that having on the continent well it has to be said from an economic standpoint actually most of the continent of europe has cast off the risks both of praxiteles catalunya and independence the recent elections in germany france and the forthcoming one in italy don't appear to have impacted growth at all if anything growth is actually accelerating but ari i think it's important not to dismiss what are the factors driving the cattle an issue the issues of bracks it issues that came to the fore in the french and german elections this is a electorates that are uncomfortable with their economic lot with the impacts of

globalization and they will continually vote for parties who are looking to bring economic control back to a a more local jurisdiction be that in catalonia be that in the u.k. i think it's a european a global phenomenon but thus far it has to be said economic growth has proved immune to the politics simon french in london good to speak with you it's my pleasure. awatere ministers from egypt sudan and ethiopia are gathering to discuss how africa's largest hydro dam will impact access to the river nile the grand ethiopian renee sounds damn is sixty percent complete and has yet to go into operation a four point eight billion dollar megaproject near the sudanese border was launched in april twenty eleventh nearly a quarter of a billion people rely on the gnarls waters its base in covers eleven countries from tanzania and sudan up to egypt but egypt and sudan claim exclusive rights to its use and object to anything that might affect the river ethiopia disagrees most of

egypt's nar water originates in ethiopia and it wants the four point eight billion dollar dam to help boost its own economy. well joining us now from portland oregon is calling for and calling is a professor and chair of physical geography at the u.k. based nottingham university thanks very much for being with us calling i want to ask you first of all what do you see as the potential impact of this dam not only on ethiopia but on the downstream countries sudan and egypt the building of a great dam. is bound to have impacts both locally and throughout the the river system it's all one joined up system however the way that it's done the way that it's built in the way that it's failed in the way that it's managed kind of and. massively reduced those impacts and if the addition of another dam to to a river is done in

a coordinated fashion with the existing dams and water resource development then actually the addition of a time can be beneficial so it's all in the way that you do it and the way that you operate the time afterwards and is it being done right here is it being done in a coordinated fashion. in the case of the of the good or the the ground ethiopian renascence time. as somebody who's not directly involved in the project it's quite hard to tell because the reports that were promised about exactly how the dam would be done the technical detail simply isn't available so it depends really on on what you can read in the media and the scraps of information that come out. and and on that basis it looks as if it could be being done correctly. but that is a matter really of trust whether you believe the international panel of experts who

are advising the ethiopian government whether you trust the theo p. and build is that the time to do what they. well what they said they're going to do what egypt has of course been crying foul about this for some time saying that this dam would reduce what it sees as its traditional share of the waters and i appreciate that a lot of this is based on the information that's that's out there all they justified in that concern well justifiably nervous certainly i think any country in egypt position would have concerns about development of a major water resource upstream they are they downstream right piri and to some extent. they don't have control over what happens upstream of them so i think justified to be nervous but they must enter into full dialogue with sudan with

ethiopia indeed with the other countries in the nile basin because that's the only way that can be managed in a coordinated fashion to the benefit of all the nations and that has to be the goal here and i was a fantastic water resource it's being exploited for not just centuries but millenia that's going to go on into the future at a time of increased floor to stress because of climate change and if the nations and their engineers and technical experts work together then then i think fear is although understandable it will turn out to be unnecessary so do you see other areas in the world then went way similar dynamics playing out and where we could possibly see what i want to refer to as water walls. well i think that unfortunately is a distinct possibility but it doesn't have to be that way so it to be only

surrounded in stress and negative i'd rather stress the positive. great rivers like the me kong have the mekong river. commission and the nations of the mekong basin collaborate through the mekong river commission not because they're bound by law but because they recognize it's a sensible thing to do to to support development of countries that badly need that and that means not necessarily compromise but finding points where there's mutual agreement where there's a shared vision of a secure water future for the for the basin good to speak with you calling for joining us there from portland oregon thank you thank you finally is zambia's economy was built on mining but more than a century later the children are feeling the after effects of years of toxins polluting the environment i don't know the reports. in the notice of sunshine

meyer looked a little small for his age after blood tests were done a nurse at the clinic gave her the bad news he's suffering from lead poisoning. his condition hasn't changed he sometimes vomit says diarrhea and he's often tired the clinic doesn't have the right drugs last time i got medication for him was in january late isn't your a toxin that's particularly dangerous to children they often ingest the poison dust while playing or doing chores a study done by the world back in twenty eleven found that in effect the communities here lead in the soil was about ten times the u.s. safety limit some children haven't been tested so they are no official figures of how many are sick but community leaders say they know decades of mining lead and zinc have left a toxic legacy. very stringent for instance. that school is quite poor. very very hard to believe. children are. the warning signs don't seem to scare away the poor and

desperate is still a valuable commodity used around the world the locals call the spit black mountain they can dig for hours looking for lead to sell they say there is no other work when the mine close in one thousand nine hundred for many people lost their jobs gavin doing is awesome make ends meet even if it's dangerous work. angels are working with the government to clean up affected communities since twenty fifteen more than one hundred homes have had contaminated soil replaced with clean soil get remember put it on the ground put some gravel and then they get black soil put it on top and plant grass so that the membrane only allows water to go downwards and applauds and then there's no dust environmental health experts say after more than a century of mining camp will never be a live free town is too late for that but getting as many people as possible away

from the exposure could help make this former mining town a little bit safer for future generations. that is our show for this week remember you can get in touch with us by tweeting me at has him and use the hash tag a.j.c. to see you when you do or drop us an e-mail counting the cost that al jazeera dot net is our address but there's more for you on line at al-jazeera dot com slash c.t.c. that will take you straight to our page which has individual reports links and entire episodes from catch up on. and that is it for this edition of counting the cost and has a secret from the whole team here thanks for joining us the news on al-jazeera is next. the russian orthodox church is deep pockets and the rapid expansion may bear its crucial role in putin's grip on power with some elevating the former k.g.b. officer to sainthood president putin is our leader that given twelve good people in

power investigates how after its attempted elimination by the soviet union religion has returned to the hock to the russian state the orthodox connection at this time on al-jazeera discover a wealth of wood winning programming from around the world powerful documentary as we were running away for our life from a brutal regime that kills its opponents debates and discussions we're getting comments on what the international community should do how worried should we def will be that this guy has the nuclear codes on a scale of one to ten can challenge your perceptions al-jazeera. as we embrace new technologies rarely do we stop to ask what is the price of this progress what happened was he was started getting sick but there was a small group of people that. maybe this was really. an investigation reveals how

even the smallest. we think ok will send us to china but remember that air pollution around by design at this time on al-jazeera short films of hope and inspiration. a series of. stories that highlight the human triumph against the odds. at this time.